Jarvis Coffin - JarvisCoffin.com (Page 2)

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Jarvis Coffin

I write fiction and essays on rural life in Southwest New Hampshire from a desk over a garage, looking out the window through trees at a small pond, always hoping the power doesn't go off.

Now We are Nearly to Spring

Now We are Nearly to Spring

Every year, awakened by the Mourning Dove, I would be glad to stand in that spot for a minute or two.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

There will still be tasks available to us after AI has it under control. I feel confident about that at the end of a dirt road.

Up Yours

As usual, it took a minute when I slipped behind the curtain and unfolded the paper ballot to process all the names in front of me.

Winter Enchantment

Winter Enchantment

Imagine a place where the leaf action of a spindly plant at the edge of the woods can take center stage each morning out the kitchen window.

About Breakfast

About Breakfast

I stopped ordering scrambled eggs at restaurants, including good ones, long ago. Invariably— as in, every case, every occasion—scrambled eggs come out overcooked and rubbery, sometimes flecked with specs of brown.

Nothing Much Happens

Nothing Much Happens

If you had to pick one thing to describe rural life, it could easily be that nothing much new ever happens.

Boxing Day

You are entitled to your own set of facts when it comes to the origins of Boxing Day because there are none.

Power to the People

Power to the People

I wonder how far it will be in the future when the notion that we delivered electrical power around the world by stringing wires over hill and dale will seem archaic.

Just Like That

Thanksgiving, and just like that our inboxes are full of Black Friday offers. The world is released to fill the airways with carols, string holiday lights, and buy Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving

It is hard to feel wistful for the long hours and seven-day work weeks. But we are thankful for having been innkeepers in many small ways and, sometimes, as you see, in big ones.

Porcupine

Going forward, I want to stress this for any porcupines that may be reading this postcard: Huck does not sniff around first thing in the morning. Remain calm. Stay put.

Vaccine

I have this personal connection to vaccines. When the polio vaccine came out my mother, aunt, and uncles were among the first to receive the shot--among the first, I tell you, after six thousand years of polio's recorded torment.

Growing Tucker

Crunch Time

We can imagine fifty thousand acorns hitting the ground in front and another fifty thousand more behind. A total of one hundred thousand acorns scattered across our parcel in the woods.

Docks Out

Notice has been given by the nice people that handle the in and out of our dock that the time for out is upon us . . . This is usually when remorse settles in about how little time we spent during the season on the pond.

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Neighbors

Summer's End

Back to school always sneaks up on me. I am still not used to the fact it comes before Labor Day--nor am I happy about it.

Fiddleheads

Hancock’s Fiddleheads Café reopened Memorial Day weekend after a winter hiatus, during which time owner Sherry Williams continued her search for a buyer to fulfill her retirement goal, having worked might and main at the business for eighteen years. Ownership events occurring with small, rural businesses in New England

The White Wood Aster

The White Wood Aster

There is a metaphor in that, which the White wood aster knows.

Green Tomatoes

It is tough to be a tomato in New England.

Sentimental Lights

Sentimental Lights

I can conjure an argument for why our collective imagination, the state of romance, and all the poetry in the world have suffered since the advent of incandescent light.

Bear

The counselors positioned it this way after breakfast: go back to the cabin, brush your teeth, put on good shoes, we’re going bear hunting.

The Children are Back

The Children are Back

We are asked frequently if children are welcome at the Inn. The answer is yes for the reason that in our own lives, as children, inns were magical places.

How's Your Back?

How's Your Back?

It turns out that everyone has an opinion on back pain. Why not? One out of two people are affected.

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For the Art